Shenhe

Genshin Impact: Shenhe

Age: 26

Shenhe uses the tall female model. She has a fair complexion, long hair that turns from silvery white at the roots to inky black at the ends, and pale, iridescent eyes with white pupils. She has her nails painted with light blue nail polish.

Originally part of the Tianheng Thaumaturges clan of exorcists, Shenhe originally had a happy life as a child until around the age of six, when her maddened father attempted to sacrifice her to a malevolent god in order to bring back his wife. While Shenhe managed to defeat the remnants of the god herself, the incident scarred her for life, giving her homicidal tendencies and causing her to believe herself to be a "cursed" child. Despite the adepti's attempts to contain her tendencies, they have only done so by binding her soul with Red Ropes, which suppress her emotions and cause her to have an indifferent personality.

Even with the red ropes suppressing her homicidal tendencies, Shenhe often contemplates the most violent means to eliminate others and is almost always easy to anger, obliterating her surroundings whenever her emotions get the best of her.[2] She throws hostile looks at Xingqiu, believing him to be threatening others.[3] Despite this, Shenhe ultimately wishes to fit in human society and places great trust in the Traveler.[4][5] She prefers speaking with a small number of people at a time.

As a result of living with the adepti, many of her fellow people worship her as one of them, something which deeply troubles her despite stating that she is just an adepti's disciple. She enjoys sampling small quantities of foods in a manner similar to Albedo. Due to having a limited diet in the mountains, Shenhe is used to eating plenty of herbs despite clearly despising their taste. After moving to Liyue Harbor, one of the aspects she cherishes of civilization is having a wide variety of food to choose from.

Shenhe comes from a branch family of a clan of exorcists. Due to certain reasons, Cloud Retainer took her in as a disciple.

To Shenhe, Cloud Retainer is a knowledgeable and chatty master.

To Cloud Retainer, Shenhe stands out as special from amongst the mortals she has instructed.

Living with adepti as a human is by no means an easy task, but Shenhe has a unique constitution, an immensely strong will, and a great talent for adepti arts, all of which have won her the acknowledgment of the adepti. However, the long years of cultivation, coupled with the habit of eating divine herbs and drinking the dew of the mountains, have made her more and more distant from earthly life, and she has even been regarded as a mysterious white-haired adeptus.

The occasional sharpness in her personality and the red ropes adorning her body add to her "mystery". If her past were to be written as a story, there would be multiple versions for sure.

Be it an immortal or a white-haired witch, how will people view this mysterious lady? Her secrets and feelings are as difficult to capture as the drifting clouds in the mountains.

Shenhe was originally from a branch family of exorcists, but due to a series of coincidences, she became the disciple of an adeptus.

She is a student solely of Cloud Retainer in name, but her impressive constitution and intelligence quickly won several other adepti over.

She would go on to learn from them all, eventually becoming a master of adeptal arts in her own right as a mortal.

She very much looks the part as well in her unique temperament and manner of carrying herself — indeed, it would be no understatement to name her a true adeptus upon meeting her for the first time.

However, it is precisely due to the long years of tutelage that she has lacked company save for the adepti and odd passing illuminated beast.

This isolation has caused her to grow distant and indifferent.

Few people know how the young girl in the cave, intended as a sacrifice by her own father, had been able to stand against the monster for days and nights on end by herself.

Though Shenhe was born into an exorcist family, her maddened father had not taught her a single thing about exorcism.

And like many at that innocent age, she was also wholly unused to facing life's perils alone.

But in that aphotic cave, bereft of parental protection — indeed, betrayed by kin — Shenhe underwent a metamorphosis.

Just as Moon Carver's readings had shown, the sleeping calamitous fates, violent urges, and unyielding spirit within her burst their bonds all at once.

Those things served as an unseen shield and invisible blade, arming the girl's frail form.

They gave her strength, gave her claws and fangs, allowing her to attack that wretched creature before her, to swear to tear it to shreds — to prove that she, and not it, was the cruelest evil that stalked the darkness.

Their life-and-death battle across the next few days was one without end. Hunter and hunted switched places many times, the conflict locked in stalemate...

As the shadow of death loomed large, the gods looked upon the extraordinary girl with favor.

With the bright, crystalline object falling into Shenhe's hands, the balance tipped irrevocably in her favor and the victor was decided.

The vivid icy light pierced through the dark like skyglow, showing the path to the future.

In the past, it had guided Shenhe from her miserable fate. In the future, it would also lead her back to the mortal realm.